Ivy Coach College Admissions Blog

Ever wonder if colleges report accurate admissions statistics? Wonder no more with a scandal brewing at the University of Illinois (photo credit: Daniel Schwen).

Each year, universities release college admissions stats that delineate how the class breaks down. Often, the admission statistics detail what states applicants hail from, what the ethnic background breakdown is, what the yield is, and, of course, what the admission rate is. And this is only a sampling of all the data colleges release. We compile much of the data each year for the Ivy League colleges in our exclusive Ivy League Statistics.

But have you ever wondered if each class really is the best class ever? What if the data isn’t exactly true? Couldn’t a dean of admission, say, fudge certain data so the university was lauded as more academically competitive than it actually is? So the university’s “US News & World Report” ranking will continue to rise? Well, we don’t have to wonder anymore because the Dean of Admissions at the University of Illinois resigned today because he did just that — he fudged admissions stats!

According to “The Chicago Tribune” article on admissions stats, “The university will end up spending about $1 million on a two-month investigation following the revelation that the College of Law manipulated the median grades and entrance-test scores of its students to make the classes appear more academically accomplished than they were.” Wow. Remember when the Dean of Admissions at MIT resigned a few years back because she lied on her resume about her degree? This one’s better.